


Coming Home

by Zilchtastic



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Gen, Interspecies Relationship(s), Motherhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 10:28:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8202061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zilchtastic/pseuds/Zilchtastic
Summary: The Dragonborn finds her way home to her family.





	

Kellin Whiteraven paused outside of Lakeview Manor, just breathing in the fresh air from the lake and enjoying the sunshine. Her presence, however, did not go unnoticed for long.

"Mama!" Lucia cried, joy in her voice. "Mama, you're back!" The little girl grinned up at her. "Did you bring me anything?"

Kellin sighed, mock-wearily. "Do you hear this, Inigo? I haven't even gotten in the door yet and my daughter is wanting presents." She shook her head sadly. "I can't even sit down and rest my weary bones--"

" _Mama_ ," Lucia stamped her foot impatiently. "You do this _every time_."

Kellin laughed and ruffled the little girl's hair at that. "So I do. Be patient. Go inside and get your sister, I have presents for you both."

"Yay!" Lucia scuttled indoors; Kellin and Inigo followed.

It was good to be home, good to be surrounded by familiar scents and sights, good to _relax_. The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace as Kellin entered the main hall; the smells of beef stew and snowberry pie rose up from the table to greet her.

Footsteps on the stairs. "Ahh, it's my love, come home to visit," said a sibilant voice. Kellin smiled as Scouts-Many-Marshes came down to greet her, pressing his cheek against hers in the Argonian version of a kiss. "The children have missed you, my dear."

"I've missed you all," Kellin said, sinking gratefully into a chair at the long wooden table that took up most of the greatroom. "You can't imagine how hard it's been, stamping through mud and snow and ice and fighting off bandits and dragons--"

"And spiders," Inigo offered helpfully. "Do not forget the giant spiders."

Kellin shuddered. "I'll never forget the giant spiders."

"Mama!" Sophie clattered down the stairs, her little snow fox at her side as always. The thing looked at Kellin and snarled; probably it didn't like the smell of blood on her.

"How's my girl?" Kellin asked as Sophie swooped in for a fierce hug.

"Lucia says you brought presents," Sophie said, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.

Kellin pretended to groan. "Presents, is that all I'm good for?"

"Well, you give more allowance than Papa does, too."

Kellin cuffed her, mock-serious. "I am more than a walking treasure chest!"

"Mama, look what I found!" Lucia followed her adopted sister down the stairs. "It was over by the bloody rocks down the hill." She presented her mother with a wicked-looking ebony dagger.

"Lucia! I told you to stay away from the necromancers!" Kellin chided. She looked over at Scouts-Many-Marshes, who shrugged a little guiltily. "Can't you keep a better eye on her? I don't want to come home and hear you've been sacrificed and ressurected as an undead abomination, young lady."

Lucia sighed imapatiently. "Yes, Ma."

Kellin took the ebony dagger. It hummed faintly with magic.

"Soul trap," she said, shaking her head. "You've got to be careful with this sort of thing, Lucia. What if you fell on it?"

"Ma! I'm almost _eleven_ ," Lucia protested. "I'm not going to fall on a dagger."

"We practice every day with the iron daggers you gave us last time you came home," Sophie added earnestly. "Well, _almost_ every day. Papa says we could grow up to be adventurers like you!"

Kellin sighed, actually a little weary now. "Just promise me you won't go down the hill anymore, or I'm moving us to Solitude."

The girls protested vociferously, saying how much they liked the pretty lake and the trees and playing outside. "We'll be extra-super careful," Lucia promised, looking guilty now. "We won't go near the necromancers anymore."

"We promise," Sophie added. "Please, we want to stay here."

It would be a pain to move the whole household to Solitude, Kellin reflected, even if it was safer inside the old city's walls. She worried about her family, so far from town, with wolves in the forest, and bandits, and dragons liable to swoop down at any moment...

As if sensing her thoughts, Scouts-Many-Marshes cleared his throat. "Actually, dearest, I've been meaning to ask you about a horse."

"A horse?"

He nodded. "A horse and cart, so I can take the girls with me when I go into Falkreath to buy and sell. I'd feel safer if I didn't have to leave them alone all day."

"That's a good idea," Kellin said, nodding approval. "I've been thinking too, about hiring a steward. Someone to look after the house, someone to help defend you all in case... anything should happen."

Scouts-Many-Marshes spread his scaly hands. "Whatever you think best, my love."

"I can see to the horse right away, though. There's a stable outside of Whiterun, with good steady beasts. I'll look them over and send one as soon as I'm back on the road."

"Hooray!" Lucia took her sister's hands and pulled her into a little dance. "A horsie! We're getting a horsie! What will we name him?"

Sophie stuck out her tongue. "Wait til we _see_ it, horker-brains."

Before they could start in on each other, Kellin clapped her knees. "Anyway, I brought presents! Who wants a pretty new dress?"

"I do, Mama! I do!" the girls chorused. Inigo laughed.

"Perhaps you should buy them little armor, to go with their little knives, yes?"

Kellin scrunched her nose. "They'd outgrow it before I turned around twice. We'll wait til they stop growing like little weeds to fit them for armor."

She reached into her pack and pulled out two neatly-folded packages wrapped in oilcloth. "Green for Sophie, and red for Lucia. Do please try not to rip them while climbing trees this time?"

"We won't," the children chorused again.

"What do you say?" Scouts-Many-Marshes gently reminded.

"Thank you, Mama."

He nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now, finish up your chores. Let your mother relax now that she's home."

The girls scampered off, fox trailing after them like a silver shadow. Kellin sat back in her chair, letting out a deep breath.

"You do well by us all," Scouts-Many-Marshes said, sounding reassuring. "They miss you, but they understand why you're away so often."

"Do they?" Kellin shook her head. "It must be hard on them. It must be hard on _you_."

"I'm your husband. I understand best of all." His mouth turned up at the edges in a lizard smile, showing sharp teeth.

"We make an odd pair, don't we?" Kellin mused.

"No more odd than my parents," Inigo said, dropping into a seat near the fire. "True, people may have looked at a Khajiit and an Argonian strangely, but no one questioned their love."

This brought the smile all the way up to Scouts-Many-Marshes' winter-blue eyes. "He's right. The townsfolk may look at me askance from time to time, but no one can say we aren't there for each other. And the girls have been given a chance at better lives because of you."

Kellin smiled back. "Sweet-talker."

Scouts-Many-Marshes chuckled. "Ah, my love, how I've missed you."

"Prove it," Kellin said, grinning. Inigo whistled, then hid his kitty-grin behind his hand.

"Children!" the Khajiit called up the stairs, "how would you like to go fishing with Uncle Inigo?"

Kellin and Scouts-Many-Marshes were already heading upstairs to the bedroom as the children clattered gleefully down the steps, fishing poles ready.

***

Afterward, Kellin sighed and nuzzled closer to her husband. "I guess you really _did_ miss me," she laughed, softly.

"Every day," Scouts-Many-Marshes said, running clawed hands over her skin. "Ah, but you're so soft, my dear. Your skin is like the finest silk. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Kellin snorted. "You're nothing I can't handle. Giant lizards regularly try to use me as a chew toy, remember? I think I can take a scratch or two."

Her husband chuckled. "Duly noted." For a minute or two they just breathed together, letting the peace flow between them.

The front door creaked open. "We have returned with supper!" Inigo called out, as the sounds of the children laughing drifted up to the bedroom. "Come, see our magnificent catch!"

Kellin smiled wryly and began pulling on comfortable clothes. It was a relief to take the armor off, if only for a little while. "We'd best stoke the fire, dearest. I'm starving."

They had fried salmon for dinner, along with hearty bread and cheese and bottles of Black-briar Reserve mead that Kellin had stashed away in a trunk for a special occassion. What, after all, could be more special than seeing her family?

For dessert there were lavender turnovers, and apples, and spiced wine aplenty. It was the best eating Kellin had done in months.

She yawned, the warmth of the fire and the wine in her belly making her sleepy.

"Will you stay the night?" Scouts-Many-Marshes asked, a hopeful note in his voice.

Kellin smiled at her family, a little wistful, even a little sad. "I'll stay," she said. "But tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow can take care of itself," Scouts-Many-Marshes replied. "Tonight is all I ask for."

"You're too kind," Kellin said, meaning it.

"I'm your husband. What would I be, if not kind?"

She tucked the children into their beds that night. Lucia yawned, eyes already closing, but Sophie sat up on one elbow.

"Mama, will you tell us a story?"

"What would you like to hear?" She ruffled her adopted daughter's hair.

"Tell us about a dragon," Sophie said, eyes going all big and wondrous. "Tell us how you fought one."

Kellin sat cross-legged on the floor between their beds. Lucia sat up, all eager now as well.

"Well, it wasn't long ago that I was on my way to Kynesgrove..." Kellin began.

***

She kissed their foreheads when she was done, and padded out of the bedroom on silent feet. Inigo sat near the fire, a wine goblet still in hand. He smiled up at her as she approached.

"My friend, you are a very fortunate person. You have a beautiful home, a loving family..."

"I know," Kellin said, voice low. "I don't visit them half as often as I should."

Inigo waved his empty cup. "You are very busy saving the world from dragons and smelly trolls and things of that nature. You are making the world safe for them."

"Still--"

Inigo shook his head. "Do not worry, my friend." He cocked his head to one side, as if listening to a voice only he could hear. "Mr. Dragonfly also says not to worry. He says that someday the world will be saved, and then you can go home any time you want."

Kellin tilted him a half-smile. "He's a wise one, that Mr. Dragonfly."

"I know, isn't he? I think he has plenty of time to muse on these subjects while he sits in his jar." Inigo grinned, wide enough to bear long canines at her. "Go, rest. Or don't rest, if your husband is still awake."

Kellin playfully punched his shoulder. "You're not supposed to know about such things."

Inigo tapped his nose slyly, but only said "What things?" in a note of total innocence.

Kellin laughed. "Get some sleep yourself. And thanks for taking the girls out fishing."

"It was a pleasure! The beautiful water, the wind in the trees... Ah, such a life!" Inigo made little flicking motions, shooing her with his fingers. "Go on. I will find someplace to curl up, do not worry about me."

Kellin made her way upstairs. Icy blue eyes glinted in the dim light of the bedroom.

"Still awake?" she whispered, smiling, as her hands went to the clasp at the front of her dress.

Scouts-Many-Marshes pulled back the blankets. "Come here, wife," he growled playfully. "I'm not done with you yet."

Kellin laughed breathlessly and allowed herself to be pulled down into her husband's cool, scaly embrace.

***

The next morning dawned on the note of one of Inigo's made-up songs as he dished out hot porridge to the children downstairs. Kellin awoke with a smile.

Scouts-Many-Marshes nuzzled under her chin, tongue flicking against her pulse. "Must you get up already? It's cold."

"Oafish lizard," she teased, slapping his hands away as they traveled downward. "Can't I even have breakfast first?"

"Mn. Fine. But see if I bake you a pie to take on your journey," he replied, mock-pouting.

"I'm pretty sure you put skeever in those pies you make, love," Kellin told him.

Scouts-Many-Marshes grinned a toothy grin, then remembered to be offended. "I would _never_! Only the finest spiderflesh for my beloved."

She pretended to punch his shoulder. "Ugh! Don't even joke about that!"

He threw back his head and laughed. It was a good sound, slightly hissing but full of true mirth. They made an odd pairing, yes indeed, but Kellin wouldn't trade it for the world.

She pulled on a fresh dress and made her way downstairs to say good morning to her children.


End file.
